(WASHINGTON D.C.) — As Congress works to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill ahead of a July 4th target date from the White House, the Trump Administration is touting many big wins for agriculture in the legislation.
“Well it’s a tremendous bill for our farmers and our ranchers,” according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “A hundred percent expensing which is a huge change, a big deal for our producers, increasing farm income by 3.8 billion dollars a year. The reference prices finally are getting an adjustment because the Biden administration couldn’t get a farm bill done. It prevents the death tax from hitting 2 million family owned farms, bolstering of course the safety net, it’s a tax cut of 10 billion dollars just for our farmers and our ranchers.”
The bill, currently working through the Senate’s reconciliation process, has undergone various revisions this past week due to the Senate Byrd rule that limits what can be in a reconciliation package. Many Democrats (and even some moderate Republicans) have voiced their concerns about potential cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other programs. Speaking on Friday’s Agriculture of America (AOA) program, Secretary Rollins acknowledged some of those concerns but pushed back on what is being said from various members of Congress.
“You know you’re hearing a lot of whining from the democrats about oh this bill cuts and cuts and cuts, but it doesn’t, it makes the government more efficient and then it puts additional money into the parts of our country and our economy and our communities that need it. And our ag producers need it, so I’m really proud of this bill especially as it relates to our farmers and our ranchers. It’s going to be a huge win.”
Secretary Rollins also commented on some of her recent trade trips and that there is an appetite for American products and commodities around the world. “I went to the UK, then headed directly to Italy. I’m about to go to Vietnam, India and Japan, and I’m encouraged in ways I didn’t even know was possible, meaning that there was almost zero activity from the Biden administration trying to expand markets for our farmers and our ranchers, they are so happy when I come and we start immediately talking.”
She added, “in Italy for example, you know they import 78 billion dollars a year in agriculture products, but only 1.7 billion of that comes from America and that’s what I was talking to my counterpart over there, Secretary (Francesco) Lollobrigida, about how in the world do we get more of the great American products and he said, I agree Brooke, he said this is crazy, we don’t have more of your soybeans and other products coming into Italy. And in fact, I’m hosting him in Washington on Monday to continue closing that deal out.”
Hear the full conversation between Secretary Rollins and AOA host Jesse Allen on Friday’s episode of Agriculture of America, at the start of the show, linked below:
